Fugue, the latest novel, is now available from the Amazon Bookstore in paperback.

One life is enough for most of us. To live two lives in parallel is more than most of us could bear… especially if one life knows nothing of the other.

The Boy finds himself on a beach, like some piece of flotsam that has arrived from the sea, draped only by the seaweed that is strewn by the tide. He is salvaged by Effie – restored to life and health by her concern, by her love. But he knows, somehow he knows, deep down in his being he knows that this boy – Peter – is not his real self. Something happened to him to drive him to this other place.
The Watcher is Effie – she calls herself that, though her name is Evelyn and she hates Evie – and she is constantly gazing out to sea. The cliff-top caravan, bought as a bolt-hole and now loved as a spiritual home, is the perfect place for her from which to watch the comings and goings; to watch the sea, often angry and occasionally gentle. Its mood is her mood, confusedly dualistic. The Boy is her find, her treasure – her Peter. She will save him. His youth is her elixir. She will restore him; in return he will give her the affection she craves.
The Mother is Kathleen. She misses her son and knows one day he will return to her. She misses the sound of his piano playing that had once soared and resounded around the house. Until then she listens to the radio; to Radio 3 and Classic FM, and in the late summer watches on television in case her missing son is playing at The Proms.

FUGUE plays out the lives of these three characters –all of them adrift – as they intertwine; and their very beings change in ways they cannot imagine at the beginning.

FUGUE is the seventh novel by Barry Upton.

You can purchase your copy using this link: